A few weeks ago, FRC co-hosted a pro-life conference for medical students and health professionals on the topic of serious prenatal disability diagnosis. Throughout the day we heard from a number of well respected academics and medical professionals — a variety of researchers, medical doctors, registered nurses and other intellectuals, on the most up-to-date treatment options available as well as the latest in research findings. But perhaps the most powerful voices of the day were those who themselves received a poor prenatal diagnosis.

Kristal Dahlager, now a third year law student at Liberty University, has a remarkable story. Her mother was advised to essentially abort her because of a serious prenatally diagnosed problem. Yet Kristal, a thriving, beautiful and joyful young woman, survived and thrived. Click the ‘play’ button below to see to her tell the story:

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Today is my late mother’s 90^th birthday. We sometimes had words. For starters, she couldn’t abide George W. Bush. Of my last visit in 2005, however, my memories are sweet. I did not know how ill she was. She told me how my dad had proposed to her. They shared a love of poetry, especially Robert Burns. Praising the Scot’s lyrical “Mary Morison, Ma Jo (My Joy),” my father said: “If you marry me, your name will be Mary Morrison.” What poetry lover could resist?

My mother told me how she’d walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at midnight during World War II. She crossed over walking arm-in-arm with her young sisters-in-law. The kicker: “I was carrying you then,” she said. We differed strongly on abortion, but I will always cherish those stories she gave me as her parting gifts.

Frieda was the mother of one of my best friends in high school. Often, I’d drop by their home, looking for my friend. I’d often linger talking politics with Frieda and her husband, Irv, even if my friend was not at home. Irv was a Democratic zone leader in our town. Frieda did not suffer from polio. She suffered from nothing. Her lively talk distracted me from the special shoes and hobbling gait that polio had inflicted on her. She was totally like her beloved FDR. He, too, used witty repartee to distract everyone from his polio. Frieda and Irv named their black Scottish terrier after FDR’s little dog, Fala, and they moved to his town of Hyde Park when they retired. Frieda and Irv instilled in me an indelible memory of the Holocaust and a deep concern for Israel.

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As thousands were on the national mall in Washington, D.C. for the March for Life, Reuters reported on a study that suggests abortion is safer than giving birth.  I find it odd that the release of such a study was timed to coincide with an event that celebrates and vows to protect the sanctity of life.

There are some interesting findings from this study commissioned by the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  One is the fact that the authors of the study, Drs. Elizabeth Raymond and David Grimes, used estimates from the Guttmacher Institute, which is tied to Planned Parenthood.  Another finding that was particularly interesting is that they claim abortion is safer due to the amount of deaths that occurred during live childbirth.

There are some medical risks with childbirth, but the effects of abortion are much more dangerous and long-lasting.  Jeanne Monahan, Director, Center for Human Dignity at FRC, recently published an editorial that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which focused on abortion’s devastating impact on mental health.  According to Monahan:

In the fall, a meta-analysis was published in the prestigious British Journal of Psychiatry. The report was the most extensive of its kind to date — the author looked at 22 published studies and data from more than 870,000 women. The results showed that women who have an abortion are at an 81 percent increased risk for mental health problems, including anxiety disorders, depression, drug abuse and suicidal behaviors. The study revealed the shocking statistic that close to 10 percent of all mental health problems in women can be directly attributed to abortion.

There are other impacts, as well, that are worth noting.  FRC also released a brochure, “The Top Ten Myths About Abortion,” which provided some insight into the medical complications from abortion.  A surgical abortion could impact whether a woman would be able to conceive and have a healthy pregnancy in the future.

Physical complications include cervical lacerations and injury, uterine perforations, bleeding, hemorrhage, serious infection, pain, and incomplete abortion. Risks of complications increase with gestational age and are dependent upon the abortion procedure.

Long-term physical consequences of abortion include future preterm birth and placenta previa (improper implantation of the placenta) in future pregnancies. Premature delivery is associated with higher rates of cerebral palsy, as well as respiratory, brain, and bowel abnormalities. Pregnancies complicated by placenta previa result in high rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, and perinatal death.

This does not include the physical complications from RU-486, which is prescribed to women who seek a chemical abortion.  These include:  hemorrhage, infection, and missed ectopic pregnancy.  The Food and Drug Administration recently reported that in the ten years since RU-486 was approved in the U.S., at least 11 women have died as a result of complications related to taking the drug.

Additionally, 612 women have been hospitalized, and 339 women required blood transfusions as a result of taking RU-486.  (Food and Drug Administration, “Mifepristone U.S. Postmarketing Adverse Events Summary through 04/30/2011”).

Additionally, government compiled statistics from Poland confirm that the number of abortion-related deaths significantly decreased when abortion was essentially outlawed. The fact that this study was released to coincide with the March for Life activities is not surprising, considering that the pro-choice lobby will do anything to ensure that abortion is in the forefront.

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Yesterday, my pastor and friend Rev. Tom Joyce preached one of the finest messages on the biblical and scientific basis of the sanctity of life I’ve ever heard.  On this Sanctity of Life day, It is well worth taking 30 minutes to listen to Tom’s compelling sermon.  You can watch it here.

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE from IBC on Vimeo.

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It’s March for Life day here in the nation’s capital, and FRC’s ProLifeCon is at hand. You can watch it all below:

Follow the conversation live on Twitter: #ProLifeCon.

Here’s the schedule:

• 8:30 – 8:35 a.m.: Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
• 8:35 – 8:40 a.m.: Jill Stanek, JillStanek.com
• 8:40 – 9:05 a.m.: Michael Clancy, Photographer, “Hand of Hope” photo
  Julie and Samuel Armas, Subjects of the photo
• 9:05 – 9:20 a.m.: Gerard Nadal, Blogger, Coming Home
• 9:20 – 9:35 a.m.: Lila Rose, President, LiveAction
• 9:35 – 9:50 a.m.: Ryan Bomberger, Chief Creative Officer, The Radiance Foundation
• 9:50 – 10:00 a.m.: Intermission: ‘I’m Pro-Life Because’ photo montage
• 10:00 – 10:20 a.m.: Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
• 10:20 – 10:40 a.m.: Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)
• 10:40 – 10:55 a.m.: Collin Raye, Spokesman, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network
• 10:55 – 11:10 a.m.: Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director, Students for Life of America
• 11:10 – 11:25 a.m.: Jeanne Monahan, Director, Center for Human Dignity, Family Research Council, Karen Snuffer, Executive Director, CareNet Pregnancy Resource Centers: Manassas, Woodbridge, and Warrenton
• 11:25 – 11:30 a.m.: Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President, FRC Action

Special thanks to our cosponsoring bloggers:

• Liberty Generation
• Owen Strachan
• RJ Moeller
• Alexa Shrugged
• ChiselSeason.com
• Jill Stanek
• Remnant Culture
• The Radiance Foundation
• Little Bytes News
• Amanda Read
• Reagan Rex

Be sure to follow our featured Tweeters:

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Ask What They Mean By “Choice” was started last year as a response to NARAL’s “Blog for Choice Day.” Every year, NARAL uses the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to praise the fact that women are allowed to have a “choice.”  Last year, the pro-life community on Twitter and blogs joined together to ask what do pro-choice activists mean by “choice.”

Does NARAL believe that “choice” means punishing a non-profit religious organization from receiving a grant that would aid victims of human trafficking?

In October, the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops (USCCB) received notification from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that the funding for their program to aid victims of human trafficking would be ending.  According to an article in the National Catholic Register, the decision fell on the hands of political appointees at HHS, who decided not to give the grant to USCCB due to their opposition of the Obama Administration’s stances on abortion and contraceptive mandates within the new health care law.

Since this decision was made, HHS has come under scrutiny.  The House Committee on Government Oversight held a hearing in December reviewing the politicization of grants by HHS.  You can read the testimony by clicking here.

If “choice” means cutting aid to victims of human trafficking over the core beliefs of an organization, then this is going against the very grain of ensuring human dignity and rights for women.  One would think that NARAL would be up-in-arms over the horrible acts of human trafficking, since many victims are women and young girls.

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ProLifeCon is only two days away.  Throughout this week, I have featured Ryan Bomberger, Lila Rose, Rep. Chris Smith, Michael Clancy, and Samuel Armas.  You can still register for ProLifeCon, and join other pro-life online activists throughout the country to hear our amazing lineup of speakers.

Collin Raye, country music superstar and spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, will be one of our featured speakers at ProLifeCon.  Raye has sold over eight million albums and has been nominated five times as country music’s Male Vocalist of the Year.  In 2001, he was presented with the Humanitarian of the Year award by country music legend, Clint Black.

Raye, in his role as spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, is focused on helping families and loved ones who are in the same situation as Terri Schiavo was in 2005.  Raye’s family has had their own experience with end-of-life issues, when his granddaughter died of an undiagnosed neurological condition in 2010.

There is no doubt that Raye will empower the audience with his story and the work of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.

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Some anniversaries should not have to be celebrated because the events they mark should not have occurred.  January 22, 2012, the 39^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, is one of them.  That decision is one of the greatest moral and legal tragedies in American history.

It is a moral tragedy in multiple ways, and they all stem from one inescapable fact.  Every abortion kills a living human being.  No word game, subject change, or political spin can change that fact.  There have been nearly 50 million abortions since 1973 and, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, the “decline in abortion incidence has stalled.”  More babies in America lose their lives to abortion every two days than American service members have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.

As President Ronald Reagan wrote on Roe‘s 10^th anniversary, the question is not when human life begins, but what is the value of human life?  That remains the question today.  Our Declaration of Independence says that every individual is created and given rights by God.  The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on programs to help the poor, elderly, sick, or disabled.  Why?  It is nothing less than moral schizophrenia to say that the very same people who should be helped today could have been killed before they were born.

There is a glimmer of light peeking through this otherwise dark cloud.  After nearly four decades of pro-abortion propaganda and the drumbeat that abortion is a constitutional right, most Americans still oppose most abortions and a majority says that they are pro-life and that abortion is morally wrong.

Roe v. Wade is also a legal tragedy in the way it reached these morally tragic results.   Make no mistake, there is no right to abortion in the Constitution; the Supreme Court simply made it up.  Take a step back from the subject of abortion for a minute and think about what this means.  The Constitution is supposed to be the primary way that the people impose limits and rules on government.  The Constitution is written down so everyone will know what those limits and rules are.  George Washington said that the people’s control over the Constitution is literally the heart of our system of government.  Our freedom depends on it.  But when the Supreme Court changes the Constitution, as it did in Roe, it takes control of the Constitution away from the people, and their freedom along with it.

The phrase “judicial activism” gets tossed around a lot these days, as if it is nothing more than a label for any decision you do not like.  Judicial activism really means judges taking control of the law in order to produce certain results.  Claiming that there is a right to abortion in a Constitution that says no such thing, and using this made-up right to strike down state and federal laws, is as activist as it gets.

President Reagan wrote in his essay: “We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life – the unborn – without diminishing the value of all human life.”  Make no mistake about it; the end result of an activist judiciary that rejected our most cherished constitutional principles is the loss of 50 million innocent lives.  In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court used judicially tragic means to achieve a morally tragic end.  By highjacking the Constitution and creating this so-called right to abortion, the Supreme Court attacked not only the value of human life itself, but also the liberty of all Americans.  I hope that this decision has few anniversaries left.

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On Monday, ProLifeCon will be taking place at FRC. We have a pretty awesome lineup of speakers, and there is no doubt that you will not want to miss this event.  You can host ProLifeCon on your blog as well.  Just copy the code below the line, and you will be able to share ProLifeCon with your readers.

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ProLifeCon is only three days away.  Throughout this week, I have featured Ryan Bomberger, Lila Rose, Reps. Chris Smith and Vicky Hartzler.  You can still register for ProLifeCon, and join other pro-life online activists throughout the country to hear our amazing lineup of speakers.

We are fortunate to have Michael Clancy, photographer of the famous “Hand of Hope” picture, and the baby featured in that photo, Samuel Armas, who is now twelve years old, and his mother, Julie Armas.  The “Hand of Hope” picture was captured in 1999, during a spina bifida corrective surgical procedure.  Samuel Armas was only 21 weeks in utero during that picture.  While Clancy was documenting this surgery for a USA Today feature, he had the opportunity to capture Samuel Armas reach his hand out into the world from the womb.  It is a powerful picture that has stirred emotion all over the world.

Clancy is the author of “Hand of Hope:  The Story Behind the Picture,” which will be available for purchase and signing at ProLifeCon.

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Ah, the New York Daily News. How I remember that tabloid journal from my boyhood. That was the newspaper that splashed across its front page photos of the bloody barbershop where Mafia don Albert Anastasia met his end. It was then–is it still?–the largest circulation newspaper in America. In Britain, the tabloids (“tabs”) were called penny dreadfuls. That’s because they cost a penny and they lacked the magisterial tone of the Times of London. Every morning they sold out and every evening they were used to wrap fish and chips.

Now, our Daily News is still plugging away. They conceive it as their duty to inform New York’s “working stiffs”–the subway straphangers–what they should think about the world. Don’t bother going inside to find the editorials. They’re all right there–on the front page. And so is the bias of the Daily News. I wouldn’t say the paper leans to the left, ideologically. The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans. This newspaper’s bias is flat-out, prone, supine.

Sometimes, the bias is so pronounced as to be hilarious. Did you know that John 3:16 is “Tim Tebow’s Verse?” The Daily News thinks it is. It’s almost as if the young quarterback spent his early years in the Philippines as a Wycliffe Bible Translator. If you consider this story, you are warned that–whoa! watch out here–Tim Tebow did a Super Bowl ad for the “anti-abortion” group, Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family is probably anti-Mafia, too. And anti-rubbing out dons in barbershops.

But the fact that they are anti-abortion is information you gotta know. It needs to be front-and-center for discerning readers of the Daily News. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Continue reading »

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ProLifeCon is only five days away.  We have an exciting lineup of speakers, and one of the goals is to empower online activists to bring awareness to the policies impacting the pro-life community in Washington.

We are excited to have Rep. Chris Smith from New Jersey as one of our speakers.  As co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, Rep. Smith has been instrumental in advocating for pro-life legislation in the House of Representatives.  Rep. Smith has also been a strong voice against human trafficking, and as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking, he has successfully written and passed into law The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler from Missouri will also be joining ProLifeCon as a featured speaker.  Rep. Hartzler was elected to serve the Fourth District of Missouri in 2010, and she has been a tireless advocate for pro-life issues.  She supported H.R. 3, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which was sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith.  Rep. Hartzler is also a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking.

ProLifeCon has more exciting speakers who will be featured throughout this week.  Click here to register today and learn how you can spread the pro-life message to others.

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A judge’s decision to order the abortion of “a mentally ill woman’s unborn baby and sterilize her — if it meant she had to be ‘coaxed, bribed, or even enticed … by ruse’ into the procedure” has drawn appropriate fire from officials in the Bay State.

Judge Christina Harms, who retired from the bench last week, not only wanted to compel the woman known only as “Mary Moe” to have an abortion – a procedure the serious Catholic Ms. Moe said, explicitly, she did not want – but also to sterilize her. Thankfully, State Appellate Court Associate Justice Andrew R. Grainger has reversed Judge Harms’ ruling, stating that ‘No party requested this measure … and the judge appears to have simply produced the requirement out of thin air.” Justice Grainger has now given the case to another judge.

The forced sterilization of roughly 30,000 Americans occurred in our own country in the years leading up to World War II. According to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, “Between 1907 and 1939, more than 30,000 people in twenty-nine states were sterilized, many of them unknowingly or against their will, while they were incarcerated in prisons or institutions for the mentally ill. Nearly half the operations were carried out in California. Advocates of sterilization policies in both Germany and the United States were influenced by eugenics. This sociobiological theory took Charles Darwin’s principle of natural selection and applied it to society. Eugenicists believed the human race could be improved by controlled breeding.”

The inherent injustice and cruelty of the practice was not only odious to most of our fellow citizens, but its barbarity was cast into horrible relief with the rise of Nazism in German. Hitler’s “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” (July 14, 1933) compelled “the sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases considered hereditary, such as mental illness (schizophrenia and manic depression), retardation (‘congenital feeble-mindedness’), physical deformity, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, and severe alcoholism.” In addition to the estimated 400,000 persons sterilized, by 1945 up to 250,000 people had been murdered for their real or perceived physical or mental problems.

Sadly, although mass murder in the name of “racial purity” did not occur in out country, as late as 1970, “The Nixon administration dramatically increase(d) Medicaid-funded sterilization of low-income Americans, primarily Americans of color. While these sterilizations (were) voluntary as a matter of policy, anecdotal evidence later suggest(ed) that they (were) often involuntary as a matter of practice as patients (were) often misinformed, or left uninformed, regarding the nature of the procedures that they … agreed to undergo.” (Source)

All of this poses a troubling question: Our society’s outrage over Judge Harms’ decision, while admirable, is much too muted when it comes to the ongoing death of more than 3,000 unborn children daily in the U.S., as is our culture’s compassion for their mothers, who often are “left uninformed” of the other, non-abortion related options they have.

At FRC, we work with dedicated people across the country to provide those better options. That’s why, on Monday, January 23, FRC will launch the second edition of our “A Passion to Serve: How Pregnancy Resource Centers Empower Women, Help Families, and Strengthen Communities.” Make sure to visit our website, A Passion to Serve, where you will be able to download your own free copy on January 23.

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Yesterday, I gave you a preview of ProLifeCon 2012 and one of our speakers. ProLifeCon has more exciting speakers, and I am excited to hear each of them speak on January 23, 2012.

Lila Rose, President of LiveAction, will be one of the speakers at ProLifeCon, and there is no doubt that she will empower you through her experiences as pro-life activist. At the age of fifteen, Lila founded LiveAction, an organization that works to expose abuses in the abortion industry and advocate for human rights for the pre-born. Lila has led numerous undercover investigations through LiveAction, exposing corruption and illegal activity at Planned Parenthood. A graduate of UCLA, Lila has been featured on several nationally syndicated programs and her writings have appeared in several magazines and newspapers.

Below is an example of Lila’s work.

ProLifeCon has more exciting speakers who will be featured throughout the week. Click here to register today and learn how you can spread the pro-life message to others.

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This year’s ProLifeCon promises to be another exciting time to unite pro-life activists from across the country to become active online and bring awareness to the sanctity of life.  We have an exciting line-up of speakers, who will not only educate you on emerging technologies to help spread the message, but make you aware of the issues impacting the pro-life community in 2012.

We are grateful to have Ryan Bomberger, Chief Creative Officer of The Radiance Foundation as a speaker at this year’s ProLifeCon.  Ryan will no doubt inspire you with his story, as well as with his vast knowledge on utilizing the internet to educate the community on adoption.

Ryan’s story is also inspiring.  His biological mother was raped, but chose to continue her pregnancy and gave him life.  He was adopted as a baby and grew up in a loving Christian family.  Ryan has won an Emmy Award for his work.  He founded The Radiance Foundation, along with his wife, Bethany, and has been active with the pro-life community with the TooManyAborted.com billboard/web campaigns, which advocates for adoption within the black community.

You don’t want to miss ProLifeCon, as there are many more exciting speakers who will be featured throughout the week.  Click here to register today and learn how you can spread the pro-life message to others.

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You won’t want to miss these special “I’m Pro-Life Stories Because” stories nor the information about the conference at the end of this blog.

Isabel is a beautiful four and a half week-old infant in the picture submitted by her grandmother. In her words, “My grandson and his wife were told the baby they expected had spina bifida. They were apprised of all the problems she would no doubt have: possible club foot, no control over bodily functions, trauma, toxic, irreversible injury. These were just a few of the possibilities. Quite simply, they chose Life. She was prayed hard for by everyone. She has not shown signs of these items or any others so far. She was 4 1/2 weeks in photo with her father. She is loved and adored by all and growing every day. They would not change things for anything and are grateful for the gift they were given. We all are.”

Filip and Christopher are fifteen-year-old twins from Norway, both with Down Syndrome. They are pictured with their 22-week ultrasound. Their parent’s, Elly and Knut, write that their identical twins are two reasons they are pro-life! They describe Filip and Christopher as the Lord’s ambassadors. “For fifteen years the Lord has used them to bless us and many others in so many ways.”

To participate in the photo campaign, click here.

As one of our Sanctity of Life month activities, FRC is co-sponsoring a pro-life conference on the topic of prenatal disability diagnosis on January 21^st: The Conference will bring together professionals from many different specialty areas, including genetic researchers, OB/GYN physicians, developmental pediatricians, hospital nursing staff, medical genetic counselors and medical students.  Other invited participants and guests include peer ministry providers, social service support professionals, advocates for persons with disabilities and public policy specialists.

Conference on Medical Advances in Prenatal Diagnoses

Saturday, January 21, 8:30 am – 5 pm

Family Research Council, 801 G Street, NW, Washington DC

Register by clicking here or watch the webcast by clicking here.

Sponsored by: Medical Students for Life, Family Research Council, Keep Infants with Down Syndrome & Jérôme Lejeune Foundation USA

Presenters include:

• Alberto Costa, MD, Ph.D.
• Byron Calhoun, MD
• John Bruchalski, MD
• David Prentice, Ph.D.
• Gerard Nadal, Ph.D.

For more information, contact Jeanne Monahan at Family Research Council, jfm@frc.org (202-637-4608) or Peg Kolm, at mkolm@adw.org (240-994-0603).

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January has been declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. It’s timely that the seriousness of this issue is being recognized, as it is not only a global crisis but a growing problem here at home.

Thankfully, the mainstream media are picking up on the crisis of human trafficking in the U.S., which FRC highlighted in two events last year. In a gripping new report, Fox News states that “with increasing technology and the Internet, human trafficking has become more accessible and more anonymous.” Even the normally business-focused Forbes Magazine is informing its readers about “How To End Sex Trafficking and Human Slavery.”

As Fox reporter Elizabeth Prann notes, “Experts say, across the globe, millions of people are trafficked each year. Hundreds of thousands of the victims are women and girls. But what surprises many — is the rate it is happening in affluent neighborhoods where minors are being turned into sex slaves.”

According to Rob McKenna, Attorney General of Washington State and current president of the National Association of Attorneys General, “Human trafficking is a $32 billion global industry, the fastest growing and second largest criminal activity in the world, tied with arms and after drug dealing … I urge all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, we will combat this crime within our borders and join with our partners around the world to end it.”

The problem is grave and the harm it inflicts so painful it is difficult to describe. However, there is good news – the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability lists 31 Evangelical ministries that seek to help girls and women enmeshed in the sex trade, and Catholic Charities has launched a major project to restore the victims of this horrible practice to well-being. You can link to both sites by visiting FRC’s RealCompassion.org web site.

Continue reading »

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At FRC we have been incredibly inspired by the outpouring of enthusiastic and creative submissions to our “I’m Pro-Life Because” campaign. There have been a number of truly remarkable and miraculous stories shared with us over the last few weeks.

We received one such story and image this past weekend. Sweet, energetic, bright three-year-old, Olivia Ohden, is holding a picture of her sonogram and is a vision of love and joy. The image is accompanied by the words “I’m Pro-life because my mom, Melissa Ohden, is an abortion survivor.”

In 1977 Olivia’s grandmother, Melissa Ohden’s mother, had a saline infusion abortion in a hospital in Iowa.  After her mother delivered the baby, Melissa was believed to be dead. But miraculously, a nurse saw signs of life and this little baby who should have died at six months of gestation survived and thrived…

Listen to Melissa’s story

If you have not yet submitted your story, please consider doing so! Here’s how:

*1.* Pose in a picture with your ultrasound (or first newborn photo) or have your children pose with their first photo.

*2.* Let us know in 140 characters or less why you are Pro-Life!

*3.* Chose two words to describe each individual pictured (examples: Musician, Son or Painter, Mother). And include your age of your infant picture, or the week of the pregnancy in your ultrasound.

*4.* Submit your words and photos (one photo per person, please) via email to: photos@frc.org

Over the next few weeks, we will showcase these powerful images to show the uniqueness and value of every human life.

Be creative in telling your story in a single image! Gather your children to take a group picture with their own ultrasounds or newborn photos, or take fun pictures of them playing happily with their ultrasound photos nearby. Take your own photo with your ultrasound or infant picture while at work or doing a favorite activity or hobby.

Take the pictures in settings that portray what you love, and what your life means. Some of the more poignant photos will be featured in FRC publications and advertisements.

Entries, selected by FRC’s staff, will be featured on the FRC website and our other publications, including Facebook. By submitting photos and/or your story to FRC you are granting FRC a free license and permission to publish, republish, and distribute all or portions of your photos and story, including your words and image, in any format it may choose, including in print, on the Internet, or in any other digital form.

Thanks for standing for life!

Click here to view our “I’m Pro-Life Because…” gallery.

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As part of FRC’s Sanctity of Life month activities, we are collecting images for the “I’m Pro-Life Campaign”. Having only announced the initiative on December 23rd, we have been delighted by the overwhelming response during what is normally a slow time of year. We’ve already been flooded with unique images and stories. One very moving image and story is that of the Olivia Grace Somerville. Her Grandfather John Sommerville writes “Olivia was born nine weeks early weighing 3 lbs 2 oz with severe club feet. Her left foot was turned 180 degrees from normal. After one surgery and a short time in corrective shoes, Olivia is an active five year old with no signs of her original condition.” The image submitted was taken on Olivia’s 5th birthday, holding her baby-picture from when was a new born in the Neo-Natal unit.

“We are pro-life because we believe all human life has worth. I remember how my wife and I and our son and daughter in law reacted when we heard the results of the ultra sound. We felt sympathy and then love and compassion for our unborn granddaughter knowing that God had a reason for her deformity. It never even crossed our minds to terminate the pregnancy, abortion isn’t in our vocabulary. We know now, without a doubt, we made the right decision. Olivia stayed in Intensive care for almost two months and today, there is no sign of any of the problems she faced when she was born. God is indeed wonderful and He does have a plan for each of us!”

Listen to John tell his family’s story of love and life

Please join us in FRC’s “I’m Pro-life Because…” campaign. Here’s how:

1. Pose in a picture with your ultrasound (or first newborn photo) or have your children pose with their first photo.

2. Let us know in 140 characters or less why you are Pro-Life!

3. Chose two words to describe each individual pictured (examples: Musician, Son or Painter, Mother). And include your age of your infant picture, or the week of the pregnancy in your ultrasound.

4. Submit your words and photos (one photo per person, please) via email to: photos@frc.org

Over the next few weeks, we will showcase these powerful images to show the uniqueness and value of every human life.

Be creative in telling your story in a single image! Gather your children to take a group picture with their own ultrasounds or newborn photos, or take fun pictures of them playing happily with their ultrasound photos nearby. Take your own photo with your ultrasound or infant picture while at work or doing a favorite activity or hobby. Take the pictures in settings that portray what you love, and what your life means. Some of the more poignant photos will be featured in FRC publications and advertisements.

Entries, selected by FRC’s staff, will be featured on the FRC website and our other publications, including Facebook. By submitting photos and/or your story to FRC you are granting FRC a free license and permission to publish, republish, and distribute all or portions of your photos and story, including your words and image, in any format it may choose, including in print, on the Internet, or in any other digital form. Thanks for standing for life!

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As we officially begin the 2012 Sanctity of Life Month this January, the Associated Press is reporting an amazing adoption story, “Mom reunites with daughter 77 years later.”

In 1928, as a young and innocent teenager, Minka Disbrow lived in South Dakota and worked on a dairy farm. One day while enjoying a picnic, Minka and a friend were jumped by three men and raped. Innocent to the degree that she didn’t comprehend how babies were created, months later the 17-year-old Minka was confused and surprised to find her body changing and growing. Her parents soon found an adoption agency.

“I loved that baby so much. I wanted what was best,” Disbrow said. “She never met [the adoptive parents] or knew their names. But over the years, Disbrow wrote dozens of letters to the adoption agency to find out how her daughter was faring. The agency replied faithfully with updates until there was a change in management, and they eventually lost touch. Disbrow’s life went on … Every year, she thought about Betty Jane on her May 22 birthday.”

Years later she would find herself frequently wondering about her daughter. “For most of her 100 years, Minka Disbrow tried to find out what became of the precious baby girl she gave up for adoption after being raped as a teen. She hoped, but never imagined, she’d see her Betty Jane again.” In 2006, Minka Disbrow and her daughter, Ruth Lee had a very joyful reunion seventy-seven years after their separation. Minka learned that she had six grandchildren, including a veteran astronaut, Mark Lee.

In a similar story, Ryan Bomberger, of the Radiance Foundation was conceived in an act rape. Like Minka, Ryan’s mother chose to carry her child to term. Ryan now dedicates his life to promoting and protecting the dignity of every person. For a recent lecture by Ryan on the hope and joy of adoption click here.

All can agree that rape is a horrific act of violence that no one should ever undergo. But abortion after a rape robs an innocent victim of a very beautiful life.

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